The Writing Life: Ideas and Inspiration for Anyone Who Wants to Write

Through their many best-selling books, Natalie Goldberg and Julia Cameron have done nothing less than deepen the way millions of us experience the art and practice of writing and creativity. Now, with The Writing Life, Cameron and Goldberg join forces for the first time in this revealing dialogue that speaks to our common search for an everyday spirituality.

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

A New York Times best-selling author of both fiction and nonfiction, Anne Lamott was also the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. As much a guide to writing as an exploration of the emotional challenges of being a writer, Bird by Bird offers a candid and often humorous look at how to tackle these varied obstacles.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

The prolific, perennially best selling author recounts his early life and writing struggles, gives advice on the crucial aspects of the writing art, and talks about his much-publicized, near-fatal accident.

The Writing Life

With color, irony, and sensitivity, Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Dillard illuminates the dedication, absurdity, and daring that is the writer’s life. As it probes and exposes, examines and analyzes, The Writing Life offers deeper insight into one of the most mysterious of professions.

The Art of Writing Memoir: Finding the Past in the Present

This weekend workshop, recorded live, is a primer on writing the modern memoir, which, unlike your grandmother's memoir, can be written at any age. Also, a memoir can be about just part of your life. "The more you are present, the more the past will come up and be alive," says Natalie. "Only right now can give you your past."

Stein on Writing: A Master Editor Shares His Craft, Techniques, and Strategies

Stein on Writing provides immediately useful advice for writers of fiction and nonfiction, whether newcomers or accomplished professionals. As Sol Stein, renowned editor, author, and instructor, explains, "This is not a book of theory. It is a book of usable solutions, how to fix writing that is flawed, how to improve writing that is good, how to create interesting writing in the first place."

Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

“Writing is a craft you can learn,” says Roy Peter Clark. “You need tools, not rules.” In this essential guide, Clark distills decades of experience into fifty tools that writers of all kinds can use every day. You may be crafting a newspaper story or an admissions essay for college. You may be writing a technical report or drafting your first novel. You may be a student or a teacher, a poet or a critic, a columnist or a blogger. You may be preparing a PowerPoint presentation or penning a love letter.

The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text For Writing & Life

Whether or not one has lived an exceptional or dramatic life, we inherently understand that writing memoir—whether it’s a book, blog, or just a letter to a child - is the single greatest portal to self-examination. Stop treading water in writing exercises or hiding behind “writer’s block” and learn how to write with intent. Marion Roach Smith’s disarmingly frank but wildly fun tactics offer you simple and effective guidelines that work. Your legacy beings now.

Dialogue: The Art of Verbal Action for Page, Stage, and Screen

In Dialogue, Robert McKee offers in-depth analysis for how characters speak on the screen, on the stage, and on the page in believable and engaging ways. From Macbeth to Breaking Bad, McKee deconstructs key scenes to illustrate the strategies and techniques of dialogue. Dialogue applies a framework of incisive thinking to instruct the prospective writer on how to craft artful, impactful speech.

Old Friend from Far Away: How to Write Memoir

Your most potent writer's tool is your own mind, Natalie Goldberg says. From there springs the detail and truth that give your written words power and authenticity. Now this best-selling author introduces you to the pleasure of creating vivid memoirs of your own with Old Friend from Far Away.

The Art of Memoir

Anchored by excerpts from her favorite memoirs and anecdotes from fellow writers' experience, The Art of Memoir lays bare Karr's own process. (Plus all those inside stories about how she dealt with family and friends get told - and the dark spaces in her own skull probed in depth.)

Writing Creative Nonfiction

Bringing together the imaginative strategies of fiction storytelling and new ways of narrating true, real-life events, creative nonfiction is the fastest-growing part of the creative writing world. It's a cutting-edge genre that's reshaping how we write (and read) everything from biographies and memoirs to blogs and public speaking scripts to personal essays and magazine articles.

The Art of X-Ray Reading: How the Secrets of 25 Great Works of Literature Will Improve Your Writing

Where do writers learn their best moves? They use a technique that Roy Peter Clark calls X-ray reading, a form of reading that lets you penetrate beyond the surface of a text to see how meaning is actually being made. In The Art of X-Ray Reading, Clark invites you to don your X-ray reading glasses and join him on a guided tour through some of the most exquisite and masterful literary works of all time, from The Great Gatsby to Lolita to The Bluest Eye and many more.

The Great Spring: Writing, Zen, and This ZigZag Life

What does it take to have a long writing life? Drawing on her years of writing, teaching, and practicing Zen, Natalie Goldberg shares the experiences that have opened her to new ways of being alive - experiences that point the way forward in our lives and our writing. The "great spring" of this book title refers to the great rush of energy that arrives when you think no life will ever come again - the early yellow flowering forsythia, for example.

Writing the Landscape of Your Mind

The outrageous sage of modern American writing holds a workshop on how to connect with yourself. During this workshop to benefit the Minnesota Zen Center, Natalie Goldberg weaves writing theory and Zen theory. You'll hear what audience members achieve through her now famous Writing Practice and learn how to write your way to self-discovery. Highlights include: Natalie on tackling Structure, a brand new facet of her thinking on writing not addressed in her books Bones or Wild Mind, and Natalie reading the introduction to her book Long Quiet Highway.

The 8-Minute Writing Habit: Create a Consistent Writing Habit That Works with Your Busy Lifestyle (Growth Hacking for Storytellers)

Monica Leonelle digs into the best literature on forming habits and shares the top strategies professional authors are using to make sure they write each and every day. Each tip is easy to implement and will get you writing more in the "in-betweens" - the inactive moments of your life where you are commuting, waiting in line, or otherwise physically stuck with your brain unoccupied!

Ohstacy--Blog of Comfort Blogger, WTF: Wheres the Faith on Wordpress says:"Building volumes of books...8 minutes at a time!"

Publisher's Summary

What is writing? Can anybody do it? What's the best way to get started? And keep going? Over a decade ago, when Writing Down the Bones first appeared, Natalie Goldberg started a revolution in the way we practice writing. Instead of looking at writing as something open only to a few, she made it available to everybody. Her simple, ingenious exercises set free a generation of writers waiting to experience the inner and outer pleasures only writing can provide. Now, for the first time, Goldberg reads her classic work, while offering new commentary about the creative, spiritual, and practical dimensions of writing. This collector's edition also includes an exclusive interview with the author.

The book is fabulous, and the author's 15-years-later commentary just adds to the great experience. It feels like you're sitting with an old friend who's giving you life advice and encouraging you personally.

The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is the audio quality. So let me revise slightly: It feels like your'e sitting with an old friend who is whispering words of personal encouragement into a brown paper bag.

This book is the best I've read from Audible since I've become a member. The audio itself is a little sketchy...I believe it wasn't recorded in the same way as most books. But none of that matters, just turn the radio up higher, and on headphones, you don't even notice it.
Natalie Goldberg is a treasure. Her accented style of speaking makes the reading sound cozy, like you are getting stories from a neighbor or friend. And if you don't want to write, this book is still immensely enjoyable and pleasurable. I don't know if it has to do with Natalie's practice of Zen Buddhism, but her speech is slow and measured, without being monotonous. Everything is explained, you are never left to wonder. The entire effect made me feel peaceful whenever I listened. And it's a good long book....I can't remember exactly, but I'm thinking in the realm of 5 hours. I wish it had gone on longer.

There's a sweet, gentle reflection in her voice as she reads Writing Down the Bones, fourteen years later. From a different perspective she is able to connect with the listener, answer questions of why she continues to write, how she has grown as a writer since the success of the book, and tell that she became depressed after Writing Down the Bones was published. With as much insight and hindsight, Natalie, at age 50, offers new advice at the end of each chapter, discusses how her opinions have changed and matured, and shares fresh points of view that an established writer, or someone new to the art, will be surely gain from.

This is Natalie reading her 1st book years and years later. She reads the chapter and then reflects on anything she has learned since or wants to add 15 years later. This is a special special edition!!!! To hear her actually speak is great but the "update in time adds much".
Thanks Audible!!!....lynnr

This is an enjoyable selection if you are interested in trying to get yourself in the writing mood. Getting into the mood is not what I needed. Hence, for myself, it lacks instructional nuts and bolts I expected. Heavy on personal thoughts and feelings about writing and skinny on methods.

Writing Down the Bones is one of the five books I'd take with me to a desert island. The other four would have to be blank notebooks, because this book will keep you writing every time you listen to it. I read the book a few years ago, but I like to listen to the audio when I'm feeling down about my writing. It keeps me going. I appreciated Goldberg's reading. It was nice to hear her "New York Jewish accent ... naging [me] to write" (paraphrased from the introduction). I love the authenticity of Goldberg's writing, but her reading adds a lot. It is not a professional reading, but that's whats so great about it. It is endearing and real. It shows that real people like you and me are writing in cafes all over the America. If you have never read this book be prepared to have your life changed. My only regret was the poor audio quality. I have heard this recording before, but it never sounded so awful. It is still worth it to carry it around in your iPod, but I wish the sound was better. The book and the reading get five stars, but the recording only gets three. Even so, it is worth the download.

As someone who already writes on a regular basis, I didn't get much out of this book. I can see how it might work as a motivator for someone who is interested in journaling, and who hasn't tried it. The author draws a lot on a relationship with a yoga teacher, which was obviously very important to her own writing process, but a lot of which has limited value to the average listener. The quality of audio left something to be desired as well.

The writing process is far more than sitting at a desk and putting words down on paper. It is that, but it's also living a life open to the world around you and filtering experiences through a writer's lens.

If you're looking for a book that will hold your hand and walk you through the process of writing a bestseller, this is not your book. However, if writing is your passion and you want to get a glimpse of what one particular writer's life can be, this is an excellent guide.

Because the book was written early in Natalie's career as a writer, she has gone back over the chapters with some reflection. As a listener to this unabridged version you'll get a bonus review by the author of each chapter where she explores her thoughts and feelings on the subjects now.

Understand there are many portions of this book that will different writers at different stages. For me personally, this book allowed me to let go of the idea that commercial success equals being a successful writer. Journalling to discover something new, writing short fiction for obscure magazines, hammering out bad poetry, these things all contribute to the process.

So does spending time with friends and family, practicing yoga, running in the park, petting my cat, etc.. All of life contributes and Natalie does a great job of illustrating that in this very open, very accessible book.

Since taking my first creative writing class in 2008 the pleasure I used to get from reading has been greatly reduced. I notice things I never noticed before. That said, I think I rate books pretty generously. Anyone who actually manages to write a whole book and then get it published deserves an extra star.

This recorded book, narrated by the author, is especially illuminating and enjoyable because it's a type of summing up for Natalie Goldberg. She wrote the book years ago and now, as she is narrating, she comments on what she'd written then and how she sees it now, at the end of each chapter. She's funny and pithy and honest and she kept me listening all the way through even though the sound was particularly tinny and annoying. Maybe it was my device but I haven't had the same problem with any other books I've downloaded.

It feels strange saying that I feel 'ultimately disappointed' with a book that contains a lot of good information. However, I know that only because I have read the book previously.
What was disappointing was the audio quality. The maximum available was level 2 which was described as 'good', but actually sounded like Natalie Goldberg was talking from several feet below the surface of a swimming pool. I have - generally - a good quality of hearing, but I found the quality to be awful, which is a shame. Still, I now know not risk purchasing anything with an audio quality of less than a 3, but to preferably stick with the 4's. I'll look upon it as part of my Audible learning curve.
Best avoided, but only on account of the audio quality.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

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